Updating a machine to sew with non-cotton thread?
 

Anyone ever heard of doing this? been reading on another forum and a woman posted she took her recently acquired 401A to a Singer dealer and while he told her she had a great machine and would love it, he also offered to "update" it so she could use modern thread, as the old machines were made when cotton was all there was. He said it was only $20 to do so, but she didn't know exactly what that entailed.

I'm more interested in what would be replaced/changed than whether it's needed or not. A new style tensioner maybe?

my machines runs well with cotton polyester blends and polyester threads. I haven't had any real problems. I have a 401a and a 15-91 and various other machines

I've read that also. maybe a different forum , WTH ?? Then talk to my old friend that been doing upholstery for over 50 yrs, he says WTH ??

every machine I redo, i start off using the old cotton threads , If those give me problems, I switch to a poly thread. only difference I've ever found is the tension settings. as far as the machine goes.
Osmg, must not have been around when 401's where new, That was about the time rayon and polyester fabric came around, at the same time polyester threads hit the market

Have to wonder if her OSMG charges to update the machine to use modern oils

WTH from me too.

Sounds like he just wanted her machine or to sell her a more expensive one?

I would have to seriously check this out -- I think there's a snake in the woodpile! Other than a tension adjustment (which I could do myself), this just doesn't sound kosher! LOL! I'll ask my former SM guy (my son)!

Jeanette

Yes it sounds like BS to me too.
Some very old Singer manuals I've read recommend filling your bobbin with silk thread, not cotton.
I also have several very old (pre-401) spools of non-cotton (linen, silk, terylene). The Singer 27 manual recommends sewing with linen or cotton.
The old spools of cotton I've seen are so brittle they can't hold anything together. Good as a basting thread but not much else. If you have old clothing and the seams come apart you'll know it was sewn with cotton.

The only update that I can think of, is helping to make using cross-wound and cone thread easier. Spool pins are for stack-wound thread. Maybe he’s putting some kind of hicky on it to feed the threads that are not stack-wound....

CD in Oklahoma

The only thing I can think of is that he reset her tension for her. What a rip off!

At least she said the guy loved her 401 - so he wasn't telling her it was bad and she should buy a plastic wonder. It did seem like a way to pad the repair bill without doing anything special.